Road-rage drivers increase in South-East

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Published:08:58Thursday 19 March 2015

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More than a third of drivers in the South-East have experienced a road-rage incident, according to a new survey.

These incidents of road rage appear to be pushing many to boiling point as nearly a fifth (19%) of those who have been involved in a road rage incident say it led to a physical altercation with another road user.

More than one in seven (15%) who have experienced road rage say they have been involved in 10 incidents or more – suggesting that for many people, it might not be the road that’s making them angry, rather, they might just be angry.

The research from the price comparison site Confused.com is supported by new FOI data1 obtained from 15 Police Forces across the UK, which reveals that road rage incidents are increasing year on year.

Between 2013 and 2014, there was a 59% leap in road rage incidents and between 2012 – 2014, the 15 Police Forces recorded 1,331 incidents of road rage.

However, categorising road rage seems to be problematic, as most forces stated they didn’t record offences specifically as ‘road rage’, instead using a variety of different classifications – such as ‘driving aggressively’ or ‘driving in a panic’.

And whilst the police and nearly half of drivers (46%) agree that ‘driving aggressively’ can be classed as road rage, it would seem drivers disagree elsewhere.

For some, it’s not just the physical that they class as road rage – more than two-thirds (69%) see it as someone being verbally abusive to another road user and more than three in five (61%) say someone following another driver after they have annoyed them could be classified as ‘road rage’.

And the most common situations that send Brits into a road based rage include people driving unnecessarily close to them (60%) and when others cut them up (60%). Drivers also get annoyed when another person tailgates them (55%) and when road users turn without indicating (54%).

More than half (53%) say that people driving badly is the situation that makes them most angry – more so than anything else, including bad customer service (44%), lateness (24%) or stubbing a toe (15%).

And it would seem that Brits feel emboldened by their vehicles, as one in 20 (5%) say they feel invincible in their car whilst 7% say the surroundings of their car make them feel brave.